Introduction:

The universe is comprised of billions of stars, planets, gas and dust. Even though many have heard of it, only a few can fully visualize and conceptualize it. Learning about our universe that we live in is certainly necessary as it allows us to get a grasp about our past as well as the future.

Even if there are a lot of resources to learn and visualize them but the lack of an interact-able interface to visualize and simulate galaxies can lead to inconvenience.

COSMOSIM AR will make this visualization and customization process really convenient for people who are keenly interested to learn something fun!

Challenge:

Most of us can not properly understand the ways of the universe and solar systems because there is no system that can allow us to visualize and customize it according to our will. Apart from that, most of the stellar objects are at a great distance from our planet and our tools are not yet that much powerful to determine all the physical and chemical properties of every object we find. Due to lack of a simulator which can simulate these objects in real world physics.

Our Solution

COSMOSIM AR is a simulation app that lets its users customize their own planets and simulate it in our solar system. The Game mainly consists of two parts:

• Customization
• Simulation

In the customization panel, the user gets to set the mass, radius, type of the planet as well as its orbit. Along with customizing planets from our very own solar system, users can also customize exoplanets in their own solar systems. We developed a system to use the API of NASA’s exoplanet database and update the application in real time. Users can get accurate resources since the data will be updated automatically if any data is being updated to the database.

On the other hand, the simulator panel will give the user a scientific, educational yet fun experience. In that panel, user can travel within the solar system, follow a planet with its orbital path. Since the field is precise with the laws of physics, user will also be able to witness some stellar event (i.e: eclipse). This tool will help a user to visualize and understand the concept of astrophysics and planetary motion very conveniently.

Our Innovations:

The project is really innovative as the project will not only simulate our solar system and various exoplanets in an Augmented Reality Space but it will also allow users to customize their own planets and star systems, which will update and keep growing as NASA’s Exoplanet Archive becomes larger making the project not only an innovation but extremely educational as well.

Resources:

GITHUB LINK: https://github.com/Team-EON/theuniverse

DATA COLLECTION:

Planet Details: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/overview/

Exoplanet Data: https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/...

SOFTWARE:

• Unity 3D
• Vuforia for AR
• Adobe suites for graphics development
• Postman for API testing

MATERIALS:

Solar System planet textures taken: http://planetpixelemporium.com

Neptune Texture: https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/nep0fds1

Moon texture: https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/as11-44-6665

Ice Giant, Gas Giant Textures: https://www.deviantart.com/avmorgan/art/

Terrestrials: http://frederickhiggins.com/celestia/terrestrials.htm

API’s:

NASA Exoplanet Archive: